2017 Honda Civic hatch preview to debut in Geneva

The all-new 2016 Honda Civic sedan and coupe models will soon be joined by a third and final body style: the five-door hatch.

Following the sedan model that debuted in September last year and the coupe that followed in November, the new 2017 Honda Civic hatch will be previewed at next month’s Geneva motor show.

There, Honda will unveil what it’s calling the Civic Hatchback Prototype, and if this new teaser sketch is anything to go by, the concept will be every bit as muscly as the coupe concept that kicked the whole next-generation off in April last year.

Above: the original Civic Coupe Concept

And, as the final production coupe model’s unveiling showed us, the hatch concept will likely offer a clear and genuine preview of the market-ready car that will follow – although we can expect it to hit showrooms without the gaping rear vents and large centre-mounted exhausts shown here.

Those photos revealed a sloping coupe-like roofline for the new hatch, matched to a long profile that almost makes the new five-door Civic more of a liftback sedan in the vein of Ford’s tapered Mondeo hatch.

Above: the new Civic sedan

As a Type R model, the spied prototype also wore bolt-on flared guards, taller bumpers with enlarged openings, the requisite giant wing, large sports wheels backed by huge Brembo brakes, and a set of centre-mounted exhaust tips.

In both its regular and Type R forms, the new Civic hatch will be a larger offering than the current model.

Engine details for the new hatch are still to come, but we can likely expect the sedan’s 1.5-litre turbo and 2.0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engines to feature, along with six-speed manual and CVT automatic transmission options.

That 1.5-litre engine, capable of up to 150kW and 260Nm, will power high-spec variants in Australia, while the existing 104kW/174Nm 1.8 unit is expected to continue in entry models.

Australia

Honda Australia had originally confirmed a 2016 local launch for both the sedan and hatch models (the coupe is off limits to us), but today’s announcement also brings news that the hatch won’t enter production until early 2017.

Honda sold just 4326 Civic hatch and sedan models in Australia last year, compared to 42,073 Toyota Corollas and 38,644 Mazda3s. A number of other models also broke the 15k, 20k and 30k marks.

Do you think this new Civic range will turn the badge’s fortunes around in Australia?